"English Rose" for the masses : Gladys Cooper, beauty ideals and popular visual culture in early twentieth-century Britain

This article examines the role of postcards in turning the stage actress Gladys Cooper into a popular idol in early twentiethcentury Britain. Between the 1910s and the end of the 1920s, vast numbers of postcards featuring her image were sold, sent by mail and sometimes collected. She became the ideal Englishwoman of the period whose physical beauty and calm demeanour were widely admired. The article explores the Gladys Cooper phenomenon in terms of aesthetics, social class, gender norms and material culture. It is shown that she never became a passive commodity. She was an astute businesswoman who oversaw the exploitation of her beauty. She also countered the isolation of the icon by bringing her family into her postcard imagery. The final sections consider the letters that fans wrote to her in her heyday and the role of postcard collecting in ensuring her longevity in the affections of her most devoted admirers. [Publisher's text].